Announcements

Underdawg did an excellent job of explaining the rules. Here's the simplified version:
Don't insinuate Pedo. Warning and or timeout for a first offense. PermaFlick for any subsequent offenses
Don't out members. See above for penalties. Caveat: if you have ever used your own real name or personal information here on the forums since, like, ever - it doesn't count and you are fair game.
If you see spam posts, report it to the mods. We do not hang out in every thread 24/7
If you see any of the above, report it to the mods by hitting the Report button in the offending post.
We do not take action for foul language, off-subject content, or abusive behavior unless it escalates to persistent stalking. There may be times that we might warn someone or flick someone for something particularly egregious. There is no standard, we will know it when we see it. If you continually report things that do not fall into rules #1 or 2 above, you may very well get a timeout yourself for annoying the Mods with repeated whining. Use your best judgement.
Warnings, timeouts, suspensions and flicks are arbitrary and capricious. Deal with it. Welcome to anarchy.
If you are a newbie, there are unwritten rules to adhere to. They will be explained to you soon enough.

Recommended Posts

Some may not know this but you can claim up to 20 acres of government land to prospect for minerals. Living in California and having the hobby of looking for gold (live on top of the actual Mother Lode),the wife and I picked up a section (36 acres) to work this summer as the torential rains have moved some good amount of gravel and dirt which redistrubes the gold that has erroded from the hillside veins. Great excercise and the wife loves to plug into her headset and wander off to discover artifacts, minerals or just trash with her metal detector.

I just picked one crevice in the slate bedrock to check for gold and got a good amount. Looking forward to doing more. $155 to the feds for 20 acres and a few bucks to the county to record the paperwork.

Beautiful area with over 1200 feet of seasonal creek bottom and some diggings from the 1850's on the ridge. One of my favorite tools for prospecting is my

stereographic microscope

Some people sell the claims for very large amounts once they locate a mineral enriched area.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

All mineral rights, that's it. Nobody can remove or prospect for minerals once a location notice is posted, 90 days to file with county and BLM. You must do some work on the claim to maintain ownership, trails, clearing etc.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

$5 worth maybe, but I only sampled about 36" of one crevice which was above the water flow. The shiney gold is "flood gold" which was moved and deposited with the high water flows this winter, except for the dark dirty stuff which has been in there since the beginning.

This one came out of the same creek. Was offered $3k for it when selling meteorites. 29.5 grams, 31.0165 grams to a troy oz. Found it with my metal detector.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

PB, only rights you have are for the minerals, 1.) camping (for up to 14 days), hiking all other access is not impacted. Had a guy in an off road modified truck drive past me yesterday while I was working the claim. Lawfully you cannot operate any offroad equipment on BLM land unless you hold a claim. Fed's uphold the law and they prosecute, especially claim jumpers. I'm responsible to post corner markers, (2" pvc pipe over T-post with capped upper section with location paperwork inside) you can use a mason jar inside a pile of rocks if you want. I also have metal sign posted at all trails coming into the claim.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

PB, only rights you have are for the minerals, 1.) camping (for up to 14 days), hiking all other access is not impacted. Had a guy in an off road modified truck drive past me yesterday while I was working the claim. Lawfully you cannot operate any offroad equipment on BLM land unless you hold a claim. Fed's uphold the law and they prosecute, especially claim jumpers. I'm responsible to post corner markers, (2" pvc pipe over T-post with capped upper section with location paperwork inside) you can use a mason jar inside a pile of rocks if you want. I also have metal sign posted at all trails coming into the claim.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

BLM land that hasn't been pulled for mineral prospecting is open to claim. So is some National Forest lands. It doesn't have to be gold, any mineral. You can claim some really nice land. I'm very lucky in that I can get on my quad and drive to my claim from my house. In the process of using my winch to pull a large rock off of the bedrock.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

you can access BLM land via private land if you get permission or it is way out in the middle of nowhere. It's getting harder and harder here in Cali to gain access to some BLM lands. We have several 1850's mines and diggings all around us, some on my property. Chasing the gold in the river is only so that you can find the source. Once you find that it looks a bit different.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Chum, that sounds like a good wage compared to what you get swinging a metal detector. Many, many hours and little gold. There is a reason is it a rare metal.

If anyone of you are in the area, my claim is open to you. Bring a pan and camp gear.

A couple of meteorites paid for that quad.

BLM land that hasn't been pulled for mineral prospecting is open to claim. So is some National Forest lands. It doesn't have to be gold, any mineral. You can claim some really nice land. I'm very lucky in that I can get on my quad and drive to my claim from my house. In the process of using my winch to pull a large rock off of the bedrock.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Vacationed over in Nevada last week after a late season snow storm went through. Two hours after boots on the ground the wife scores her first nugget. Nevada gold is known for it's chevrons and chunky look. This one is just 3 grams but a real beauty. I got skunked. Before and after pics cleaned with a high pressure water jet stream.